Snow Bunny
by ShinyShiny9
Summary: Cream the Rabbit wants to go sledding. And really, how dangerous can sledding with a six-year-old be? Oh Sonic, you shouldn't ask such questions . . .


**A/N: Hasty little one-shot. I've had this idea for a good while, and I figured the "Olympics" games deserved a mention too.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.!**

* * *

The coming of the Olympics always managed to create a stir on Mobius. Sonic and the others got along with Mario's crew better than they used to, but the competition was still fierce every two years. As the Winter Olympics in Sochi drew near, everyone was practicing at various icy and snowy sports. Silver and Blaze were designing a pairs ice skating routine, Knuckles was trying to become the next red-headed snowboarding champ, and it was a crowning wonder that nobody had received a head injury during hockey practice yet. Also, Omega had downloaded a Russian-English dictionary onto his system.

One morning, Sonic found himself getting flagged down by Silver.

"What's up?" he called, skidding to a halt in the snow.

"Hey Sonic. I was just wondering if you could look after Cream today." Silver gestured back at the little rabbit, who sat on her sled fussing with Cheese's scarf. "She really wants to go sledding, but you know how it's been lately."

He raised his eyebrows significantly; Sonic nodded in grim understanding. An unusually large number of Eggman's robots had been wandering the area for the past few weeks. As of yet, nothing major had happened, but everyone was still on edge. The little ones weren't allowed to go outside without supervision.

"Normally Vanilla would look after her," continued Silver, "but she really needs to train for the Olympics. I've been babysitting Cream the past few days, but now I . . . uh . . . have to train too. And everyone else I asked is busy as well. How about you?"

"No problem," said Sonic cheerfully. "I can practice my downhill snowboarding a little more in the meantime!"

"Great, thanks," smiled Silver. However, as he turned to leave, Sonic noticed a faint list in his step.

"Say, you're not going to practice with a bad foot?"

"Nah, I'm fine," said Silver lightly. Cream, however, looked up in dismay.

"Oh no, Mr. Silver! Was your foot hurt after all?"

"No Cream, really I'm fine," said Silver hastily.

"Ohhhh Mr. Silver, it's all my fault!" wailed Cream.

"_Cream_," hissed Silver, reddening. He glanced at Sonic, looking rather put out. "It's just a little sore. Nothing at all."

"Ah," said Sonic, nodding. "Take it easy on that foot, then."

"I'm _fine,_" said Silver, growing even redder. Clearly the limp was the real reason he couldn't go sailing up and down hills anymore, and clearly he was embarrassed at having sustained an injury, however small, while sledding with a six-year-old rabbit. Maybe with good reason, too: Sonic didn't mean to be unkind, but he couldn't resist the slightest twitch of a smirk.

Cream, still looking regretfully after Silver, pulled her sled up to Sonic.

"It's not a bother, is it?" she asked politely.

"Nah. Just let me get my snowboard," Sonic grinned. "Hop on your sled, I'll pull you."

After retrieving his board, Sonic set out for some hills nearby.

"There's a good hill," he said, pointing at what could rightly be called a "bunny slope." "Ready for some sledding, guys?"

"If you don't mind, Mr. Sonic," ventured Cream, "I'd rather sled on that one."

Sonic blinked. Cream was pointing at the tallest hill in the area, one with steep, uneven sides and tricksy obstacles. He'd gone down it hundreds of times himself, but he wasn't about to let little Cream attempt a peak of that caliber.

"Oh, I don't know about that one," he said tactfully. "That's kind of a hill for bigger Mobians."

"But Mr. Silver let me sled on that one," insisted Cream, still very polite.

Sonic shook his head slightly. Leave it to Silver to let a cute little kid sweet-talk him into doing something foolhardy.

"Look, Cream, I can't let you onto that hill. What would your mother say?" he asked, adopting a "voice-of-reason" tone.

"She wouldn't mind. I've sledded on that hill with her lots of times!"

Sonic looked at Cream dubiously for a minute.

"Well . . . tell you what," he said. "We'll just go a _little_ way up the hill. We'll stop when I say, and you can sled from there, okay? It'll be safer that way."

Cream looked a smidge disappointed, but she was too polite to complain. Sonic grabbed the sled's string again and set off lightly up the hillside.

"This should be far enough," he declared, barely thirty feet up. "A nice easy ride to the bottom here!"

Cream and Cheese exchanged disgruntled looks. Suddenly, from up the hillside came a whoop of "Look out below!", and a blur of tan and aquamarine came shchussing towards the sledders. Vanilla Rabbit sailed merrily in on her skis, sliding to a neat halt in a great fountain of snow.

"Hello there, dear!" she smiled, pushing back her shiny orange ski goggles. "Sonic, thank you so much for looking after Cream. I hope it isn't a bother for you?"

"No problem, Mrs. Rabbit," breezed Sonic. "You don't mind if we sled from this high up, do you? Cream wanted to go up to the top, but—"

"This high?" Vanilla glanced downhill. "Why Sonic, you'll never get any decent speed up from this height! Of course you can go up to the top, just as usual!" She flicked her goggles back into place and gripped her ski poles. "Have fun, dears, I'm afraid I've got to keep training. Be good for Sonic now, sweetie!"

"I will, Mommy!" called Cream, waving. Mrs. Rabbit waved back and sailed off again, leaving Sonic staring after her. All things considered, Cream had a pretty epic mom.

So they went to the top of the hill, although Sonic still insisted that Cream take the very safest route to the bottom. She whizzed down on her sled, steering expertly around bumps and stumps, while Cheese clung to her ear and squealed delightedly. Meanwhile, Sonic carved down the slope in a serpentine track, angling his snowboard to perform fancy maneuvers and regularly return to the little bunny's side. They were both having quite a good time.

It was their seventh trip down when they ran into trouble. Whooshing merrily in an arc down the final stretch of the hillside, they plowed straight into the midst of a dozen or so Egg Pawns. The robots must have arrived while the two Mobians were distracted.

Cream gave a little squeak of fright, while Sonic kicked off his snowboard and got ready to do some smashing. As the first Egg Pawn flew to bits under the force of a homing attack, the others scattered. They weren't very fast, so Sonic was still able to smash a few more by bouncing his homing attacks. Once he ran out of robots to hit, he landed on his feet and looked around for Cream.

Oh dear.

While Sonic had been shattering most of the batch of Egg Pawns, one particular Pawn had grabbed Cream and taken off. The little rabbit wasn't coming along quietly—she was belaboring the robot with a bare fist on one hand and Cheese on the other hand—but there wasn't much she could do against a steel-plated hide. Sonic was level with the robot in milliseconds, but he couldn't smash it while it was holding Cream, the explosion might hurt her.

"Drop Cream right now, bolt-brain!" he hollered.

Evidently, Egg Pawns didn't take orders from hedgehogs; all the robot did was kick snow in his face.

"So that's how you're gonna play, huh?" growled Sonic. "Brace for a jolt, Cream!"

Cream tensed up dutifully as Sonic dove under the Egg Pawn's feet, sending it crashing down onto its back. The force of the fall was enough to loosen its grip, letting Cream leap free and run for it. Sonic smashed the Pawn to bits in an instant.

"Phew," he muttered, dusting off his hands. "That was too close for—"

"CHEESE!" came a furious wail. Sonic turned to find Cream running desperately after another Egg Pawn, which was clutching the squirming chao and putting quite a bit of distance between itself and the Mobians.

"Stay right here!" Sonic called to Cream, dashing after the Egg Pawn. He again had to perform fancy maneuvers to destroy the 'bot without hurting Cheese; when he returned with the chao in hand, he was just in time to see Cream getting kidnapped by a Buzz Bomber.

"You low-down good-for-nothing—_get back here!_" hollered Sonic, pelting after the flying robot with a dizzy Cheese whirring in his wake. Cream was struggling furiously. She managed to get free of the Buzz Bomber just as it passed the peak of the hill, and tumbled down into the snow. Sonic skidded up to her.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously, picking her up and setting her gently on her feet. "He didn't hurt you?"

"I'm fine," said Cream breathlessly. "I—look out, Mr. Sonic!"

Sonic whirled. The Buzz Bomber was evidently angry at having lost its hostage, and had brought its friends. A _lot_ of its friends. Sonic was about to start doing damage, but then he remembered Cream and gritted his teeth. If he let that poor bunny out of his sight for even a second, she'd get attacked or kidnapped again! There was nothing to do but run for it.

"Come on Cream, let's go!" he cried, scooping the little rabbit up in his arms and whirling around. He stopped in dismay—the only way to go was down the very worst side of the hill, the side that even the most daring skiers and snowboarders didn't mess with. Knuckles had tried boarding down that side once, and had broken his wrist.

The whirring of the horde of 'bots turned into an angry roar. Sonic glanced over his shoulder, groaned, and lunged. Cream just barely had time to snatch Cheese before all three of them shot down the hillside.

It was a rough descent. Sonic stayed on his feet as long as he could, but then the ground momentarily disappeared; he had hit a shelf in the hillside. Doing his best to protect Cream from the impact, he tumbled back to the steep ground and found himself rolling, faster than he could control. The slope became so steep it was almost vertical, Sonic made one last attempt to dig in and slow down—and the three of them crashed downwards into a copse of evergreen trees at the base of the hill, sending several branches flailing on their way to the ground.

The trees were thick, and the Buzz Bombers were evidently confused about where their quarry had gone. Sonic, Cream, and Cheese lay still, struggling not to breathe too hard, as the robots growled back and forth overhead. At last the angry buzzing subsided and grew distant, as the 'bots moved off. Only then did Sonic dare to sit up.

"Are you okay?" he asked Cream, who nodded fervently.

"I'm fine, Mr. Sonic," she insisted, getting up and brushing herself off contritely. "I'm so sorry about all the trouble! You're not hurt, are you?"

"Nahhh, I'm totally fine. Don't worry about me." Sonic tested his limbs gingerly, and found that he really was undamaged, save for a slight soreness in one knee. He must have hit it a little too hard at some point. It would be fine in a day or two, but walking on it a lot right now would be uncomfortable.

"Well, I think I've had enough of sledding for today," he declared. "You okay with heading home, Cream?"

Cream nodded again.

"Are you sure you're all right, Mr. Sonic?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," smiled Sonic, getting to his feet. "Come on, let's go get your sled and my board."

While heading back to Cream's house, they passed a frozen pond where most of Sonic's friends practiced their skating. Silver and Shadow were busy with something like baseball pepper, only with hockey.

"Hi guys!" called Silver, throwing up his hockey stick just in time to block a puck to the head. "Done sledding for the day?"

"Yeah, we figured we'd call it quits," said Sonic breezily.

"You're limping," observed Shadow, skating to the pond's edge.

"No I'm not!" scoffed Sonic, just as Cream wailed "Ohhhh Mr. Sonic, I'm so sorry! Why didn't you say you were hurt?!"

"_Cream_," groaned Sonic, feeling his muzzle grow warm. "I'm _fine_." He noticed Silver's eyelids half-lowering ever so briefly, and couldn't help but give a rueful grin. "Honest Cream, it's nothing. You don't have to apologize."

"Oh, Mr. Sonic," murmured Cream woefully. Shadow said nothing, but rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed at the idea of getting injured while sledding with a six-year-old. Silver and Sonic exchanged glances and smirked slightly. They had a pretty good idea about who could babysit Cream next time . . .


End file.
